


Sore Throats & Comfort

by sbuggbot



Category: SteamWorld Quest (Video Game)
Genre: (titles are hard), Don't copy to another site, Father Figure, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Orik has unofficially adopted the twins and you can’t stop me, Sickfic, sugary fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-03
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2020-04-07 07:32:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19080388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sbuggbot/pseuds/sbuggbot
Summary: Thayne wakes Orik up in the middle of the night because he suspects that Tarah is getting sick.





	Sore Throats & Comfort

**Author's Note:**

> Look I'm very fond of Team Dad Orik and you probably can't do anything to change that. Give these babies a chance to heal and make up for their crummy childhood.

“Orik...Orik?”

Orik stirred and rolled over. “Hmmm...what is it, Thayne?” he asked, still half asleep. It wasn't the first time Thayne had woken him up in the middle of the night, but it was still a rare occurrence.

His expression was painted with worry. “I think Tarah's sick…” he said. “...she hasn't said anything yet, but... I got a feeling.”

“You do?” Orik rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up. Thayne and his sister had almost a sixth sense when it came to how the other was feeling, so when one said something was up with the other, Orik trusted them. “Let's go check on her, then.”

* * *

Inseparable even at night, Tarah and Thayne shared not only a room but also a bed. Given how long they had had nothing but each other to depend on, it was no shock to anyone. Their bed was technically a trundle bed, so there was an extra sleeping spot available to them if the need arose. Perhaps someday down the line the two of them would be willing to sleep separately under normal circumstances, but that day was not today and there was no need to force them before they were ready.

Tarah was awake and saw the other two come in, but didn’t say anything. Thayne climbed back onto the bed and Orik crouched down next to it after turning the lights up just a little bit. “Hi, Tarah,” he said softly. “Thayne said you don't feel well?”

She shot Orik a look and then hid her face in her pillow. “I feel fine,” she grumbled. There was no ignoring the scratchiness in her voice, however.

“You sure?”

Tarah nodded against the pillow. “Mm-hmm.”

Orik wasn't surprised she was brushing him off like this; Tarah had adopted a tough girl façade a long time ago as a defense mechanism to protect both her and her brother. Orik made sure she knew she was safe here and that she could depend on him and the other three, but old habits die hard. “May I check your temperature to be positive?”

She inched further away from him and pulled the blankets over her head. “No. Go away.” Tarah was a big girl, she could take care of herself.

Thayne crawled closer to her and began nudging the blanket lump. “Please, sis?” The only response he got was a cranky grunt. Seeing that he wasn’t getting anywhere with nudging, he tugged the blanket off her head. Try as she might, Tarah couldn’t hide very much from her twin.

“Stop, ‘m _FINE!_ ” Tarah snapped, immediately regretting it. She put both her hands on her throat and winced. “Ow…” she whispered with a whimper. Thayne hugged onto her to comfort her.

“So your throat hurts?” Orik asked as he felt her cheek. Warmer than normal, but not alarmingly so. It was probably still uncomfortable for Tarah, though.

She nodded, trying to will the tears pricking her eyes to stop. “‘S killing me…” _Get over yourself, Tarah, it’s a stupid sore throat,_ she told herself. But she hadn’t been sick in years...

 _Poor kid…_ Orik thought to himself as he patted Tarah’s head. Uncharacteristically, she made no attempt at swatting his hand away. Instead, she let her ears and expression droop and leaned into his hand tiredly.

Orik frowned a bit and retrieved a small light from the drawer. “Can I check your throat, please?” he asked. Tarah nodded and let him shine the light into her mouth. He didn’t seem surprised at what he saw. “Mm-hmm, that’s a sore throat, alright,” he said cryptically as he switched the light back off.

“Is it really bad?” Thayne asked.

“Not extremely bad, but it’d probably get worse before it got better if we left it untreated.” He put the flashlight back in the drawer. “Anything else hurt, Tarah? You can point instead of speak if you want.”

Tarah just shook her head slowly and held her throat. Aside from her throat burning like a hot coal in a volcano, she was mostly just tired and maybe sorta achy.

Orik left and returned a few minutes later with cough syrup and some water. Tarah wasn’t coughing, but it was probably the best thing he had for sore throats right now. (And if she did develop a cough it probably wouldn’t be pleasant on her throat anyway.) He filled the dosing spoon and asked Tarah to open up. She took it with no complaint. She was too tired to put up a fight.

Tarah didn’t even mind the taste, really. It might have tasted like it was designed by someone who had only ever heard of cherries in passing, but it made her throat stop hurting so much. It was actually tolerable now. The aftertaste was almost gone once she downed the water anyway.

“I'll check your throat again in the morning. Try to get some rest, okay? You too, Thayne.” Orik stood back up in preparation to leave.

“Wait! ...Orik?” Tarah looked away, steam curling from her vents as she fiddled with the blanket. “Can you, um, staymnn mphghghmp...”

He tilted his head. “Pardon?”

Tarah repeated herself but didn't speak any more clearly. If anything, Orik understood even less of what she said the second time.

“Tarah, I know you can't speak up right now, but I need you to enunciate--”

“She wants you to stay here until she falls asleep but she's too embarrassed to ask,” Thayne explained sleepily and almost casually. Tarah hid her face and nodded.

“Of course I can,” Orik said. “I'd be glad to.” He sat back down next to the bed, finding a position that hopefully wouldn’t make his joints ache after a while. Tarah was higher on his list of priorities, of course, but he preferred not having sore knees.

Tarah mumbled a shy, barely-audible “thank you”, then nestled into the blankets and against Thayne. It was a bit strange to have Orik nearby. It was a form of comfort that she wasn’t used to, but it felt really nice.

After several minutes Orik reached out and began petting Tarah’s head. Normally she didn’t like being “babied over”, as she called it, but considering how she had reacted earlier Orik decided that he’d try right now. Tarah leaned into his hand with a contented little sigh. She’d been secretly wanting him to pat her head, but there was no way that she would have been able to ask aloud for that.

This was a stark contrast to the last time she’d been sick. She and Thayne had just struck out on their own when she came down with...some sort of crud, neither of them were ever sure what it had been, just that it hit her hard. For almost a week, she was far too weak to do anything but huddle and shiver in the drafty abandoned hut they’d hidden in. She was glad her brother never caught it despite him being by her side nearly the whole time. If Thayne hadn’t been able to steal some food, they probably would have had to find the orphanage for help. And Tarah knew that the managers wouldn’t have been pleased that they ran away…

She stopped thinking about it before she upset herself. Life wasn’t like that anymore. She and her brother were safe now. Tarah didn’t need to worry right now, just focus on the cozy blanket, Thayne hugging her, and Orik gently rubbing her head. (Near her ear, too! That felt amazing.)

Tarah was out within the next few minutes.


End file.
